thegraverunnersguildfandomcom-20200216-history
TRP: Ripley and Roddy (Family)
MUSE: at 5:25 PM The looted guild building. Ripley is smoking a cigarette and looking around, Roddy has followed her in. Ripley'd been back for a little while. And Roddy had kept trying to get the nerve up to talk to her- but then she'd taken off to the sanctuary, and then they'd taken off to the sanctuary, and it took a bit before they were in the same place again. Which they were. Now. Roddy smoothed out the note- again- and chewed on his lip. It was just talking to his boss. Who liked to yell at them. But they'd killed Diva, that should mean some slack, right! Right. "Hey Ripley!" he called loudly, ducking around the corner and waving. "Watcha up to?" COYOTE: at 5:31 PM The cigarette dropped right out of her mouth. “Nine fucking hells!” Ripley said, spinning around. She bent over, hand on her chest. “Good gods, Roddy. Don’t, uh. God, you’re really good at that shit.” She needed to put a fucking bell on this kid. MUSE: at 5:36 PM Roddy jumped, glancing over his shoulder to see what had startled Ripley. Oh. Uh, apparently it was him."Sorry?" Roddy said, giving a small, sheepish grin. "I uh. I wasn't- trying to be sneaky. Was um, was just wanting to talk to you." COYOTE: at 5:38 PM “Sure.” If she kept herself busy, she wouldn’t have to think about this shit. She returned to prying up the floorboards in her office where she’d hidden things. MUSE: at 5:41 PM Oh she was working. Roddy could help! "Here uh, I can," he said, crouching down and reaching over to help her pull up the boards. "So um, we went over to the sanctuary, and uh- met Jasper. Just after you got hosted. She gave us those notes you left." Roddy didn't look at her directly, but glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Not sure how she'd react to that. COYOTE: at 5:45 PM Ripley tensed up. Fuckin’ Jasper. She loved that fool, but goddamn. Ripley had been really specific: leave the notes alone. Only hand them out if I’m dead. And Jasper had said, “Oh, yeah, no, I got it.” Maybe she should’ve specified that possessed did not mean dead. She was beginning to suspect that what Jasper had meant by “I got it” was “I understand what you’re asking me to do” not “I’m going to do what you ask.” Ripley shook her head. “Yeah, what of it?” Ripley said. MUSE: at 5:49 PM "Well." Maybe Roddy should leave this alone. She- didn't look like she was that eager to go over it. ...Yeah Roddy was gonna ask anyway. "So you know, I kinda wondered, why you'd leave notes for- all of us like that. Goro I get he's your kid and all but- the rest of us just worked for you. So- I guess- I just- I was wondering why?" COYOTE: at 5:57 PM Ripley tensed again. It had felt safe to write those letters while she assumed she’d be dead. Safe to express some measure of affection or camaraderie when she didn’t have to deal with... well. It was fuckin’ stupid. Joan, to put it bluntly, did not have friends. She had people she worked with. She remembered telling a guy back at the temple she liked him and wanted to grab drinks, and he’d run the opposite direction. It was easier to be a dick to people, because that was easier than genuinely trying to be nice to someone and failing. If she was dead, it was safe to say these things— to tell Roddy that gang was family, and to Hansel she’d always liked him and wished she’d tried to hang out with him more, and to Goro that she loved him— because then she didn’t have to deal with the cold-shouldered rejection. Joan shrugged one shoulder and finished prying up the board. “I had shit to say,” she said. MUSE: at 6:04 PM "Oh." That- wasn't helpful. Roddy hadn't thought that Ripley'd thought too much about him. Sure she'd given him a job, but other than that, they hadn't- talked much. And one of the few times they had led to #1 on the list. "You know I tend to just say the things I wanna say and not leave notes for after I die. Maybe that's cause I'm really scared of dying though," Roddy said. "And. I guess. I was wondering. Why us? Specifically? You- didn't leave notes for the whole guild- I don't think- so." He paused a bit, running his fingers along the edge of the splintered wood. "Why- me?" he asked, softer. COYOTE: at 6:12 PM Ripley ran it over in her head. The thing about not leaving them for the whole guild, just a few people here and there— yeah she wasn’t fucking touching that one. She particularly liked those people, which didn’t make her feel happy. Just pathetic, today. She’d go out into the woods and beat something up and it’d be fine. She wiped the sweat off her face with her sleeve. She kicked the now-loose board aside. “Someone needed to tell you,” she said shortly. “If you’re on a team with someone, you have their backs, that’s all. That means you help them and they help you. The world is a scary goddamn place, Roddy. Sometimes you need to have people you trust. Family. That’s all.” MUSE: at 6:24 PM Oh. Roddy'd been- hoping it was cause she'd liked them. Liked him. But- apparently not. "I know it's scary," he said quietly, staring at the ripped up floor. "Fighting Diva was really scary. I think- I think I almost died? But I stuck around. I helped. Hansel said I did a good job." But then again maybe that wouldn't matter to Ripley. Roddy grabbed a board, weakly struggling to rip it out. Barley managing to wiggle it. "You know I wouldn't have snitched to anyone but you," he said. "We're- on the same team. The Graverunners Guild. Right?" COYOTE: at 8:22 PM Joan stopped. She put a hand on his wrist and gently pulled it away. She paused and thought of what to say. She had a couple different things running through her head, was the problem. Same team. Right. That's what she'd thought, too. Joan didn't really give a shit if they worked for her or not; they didn't need her telling them what to do or micro-managing them. But Hansel saying we're not on the same team had cut deep. In retropsect, it was her own fault. Joan was ready to throw down for these fools the instant she met them. That was just how she saw things. You fucking lived or died for your gang. It used to be the Temple of Io, before, then an adventuring guild, for a while... then she'd spent a few years gathering people like Jasper and teaching them about Io, and those had been her gang too. Her mouth thinned. It was her own fault for being the way she was. She ought to cut it out. She decided to deflect it. "You're right," she said. "And that's a good point. About the snitching to me thing. Sorry, kid. I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it. Goro, y'know--" Yeah, fuck it. "I know you have, uh, trouble figuring out humans sometimes? Goro, he's a half-elf, and me, I'm a human. And I'm forty-two and he's thirty. He ain't my fuckin' kid, we ain't related. Isn't biologically possible." She thought about explaining that she couldn't have kids-- on account of how fuckin' gay she was-- but that might be too advanced Roddy. He'd called her sir a few times. MUSE: at 10:16 PM Did Ripley think Roddy was stupid? He shot her an offended look, releasing the board to cross his arms. "I'm not that dumb," he grumbled. "I know you're not blood related. But my parents were dragonborn. Or at least the people that raised me most my life were. And now Hansel's my dad instead. Blood's just one thing that makes family. Just so happens to not be what makes you and Goro. Family, I mean." There'd been a time when Roddy'd had the occasional thought that maybe a similar sort of bond could form between him and Ripley them. But Ripley'd stayed behind her desk, and the half-orc with the missing tusk had instead been there during Roddy's worst moments. It was all right. Really, it was. Even if Ripley didn't like Roddy all that much, she'd kept him from being sold into slavery. Roddy owed her, and he'd do anything- within reason- to pay her back for that. And if that's all their relationship amounted to, well, it stung a bit but Roddy had a team now. A team that did like him. COYOTE: at 10:26 PM Ah shit. Joan watched him, noting the classic slumped shoulders, the sting on his face. Hard to read a six-foot turtle-man, but Joan had seen it enough times to recognize when she'd hurt a person's feelings. What'd she said? The thing about Goro not being her kid? That? "I know you're not dumb," she said. Then was at a bit of a loss of what to say further. "Ah, shit. Kid, maybe you should have this conversation with Hansel. I overheard you guys talking a couple times at Mishka's place... and before that, y'know, before the apolcaypse... he'd be better at this than me." He'd probably have some idea about where Joan had missteped. Better at that than her. She went back to the Diva thing in his mind. "For the record, you're right," she said. "You fought that bitch. And you almost died. And you stuck around. You could've booked it. A lot of the recruits did, Roddy. And you stayed, and you fought the bitch back, and you protected your team, and you... well. Y'know, fine, yeah, you saved my kid, you saved Goro. Thanks. You did good." She rested her hand on his back-- well, his shell-- then dropped it. She thought about saying: If you fucking tell Goro I called him my kid, I'll kill you. That might be aggressive, though. She was trying to be nice. She grabbed her things from the hiding place. A stash of gold, some magic items, some coded documents Ombre had stolen for her... "Why did you stay?" she said suddenly. "Instead of running." MUSE: at 10:55 PM "...Mostly because Goro and Larkin convinced me if we didn't stop her here, we wouldn't have anywhere to run," Roddy admitted. Which was- okay yeah a cowardly way to be brave. But he'd still been brave! Even though he'd really wanted to run anyway. Oh hey, loot! Ripley's loot, Hansel'd be disappointed if he tried to flitch any. And Ripley'd probably- stab him or something. So Roddy kept his hands back, even though he watched Ripley pack it up. She was being- nice now? For some reason? (Why was she saying talk to Hansel, exactly? Not that Roddy needed an excuse to- but why would she care?) "I'm not good at being brave," he said, meeting Ripley's eyes. "I'm- not very good at a lot of the things adventurers are supposed to be good at. It- wasn't a think I ever would have gotten into if it wasn't for you, really. But I guess I am kinda glad for it. Just, hope that whatever's next isn't so- deadly, yeah?" COYOTE: at 11:03 PM Ripley snorted. "Roddy," she said seriously. "Those three weeks were the most fucked-up thing I have ever experienced. If the next thing is worse than that, I'll fuckin' quit too." She kicked the boards back over the gap and didn't bother nailing them back down. No point. "Besides," she said. "You don't have to be good at it. You don't have to like it. You just have to do it. Nobody likes throwing themselves headlong into danger." Well, maybe Jasper. Fucked-up kid. Ripley smiled faintly, fondly. "You did good, Roddy. I meant that."(edited) MUSE: at 11:12 PM Huh. That was. That actually made a lot of sense. Maybe Roddy was a better adventurer than he thought. And if that wasn't also a terrifying thought in and of itself. "Uh, thanks," he said, smiling a little too as he got to his feet. Ripley was being nice now- maybe he'd just caught her at a bad time? Just one more question though. "So, uh, just to be clear, I've still got a job when you start this back up again right?" COYOTE: at 11:21 PM "Hm." She scratched her head a bit, thought it out. "Listen. The way things are now." She thought it over. "I already told Hansel this, but a lot of the recruits I had fucked off after the apocalypse. There's a lot of people ready to join up, but-- well, they ain't ready. And I'm..." Worn out, she wanted to say. "I'll have jobs for you in the future," she said. "And you're still part of the team. And I'll still pay you to do shit, occassionally, or help you find ruins, and we'll all split the profits-- same as how it used to be. But I ain't your boss anymore. I think I'm done being people's boss. At least for a bit. I got... personal shit to do. I'm thinking about it." MUSE: at 11:30 PM Roddy stopped dead. Not his boss anymore? "Does that mean I'm gonna go back to jail?" he blurted, immediately anxious. "I don't wanna go back to jail!" COYOTE: at 11:33 PM "What? No," Ripley said. "Kid, no. I paid off that debt. You're fine. You're free. And if you do go to jail, send me a message, I'll come bail you out, alright. It'll be fine." MUSE: at 11:36 PM Oh. "Oh good," he said, relieved. "Um. Thanks. For everything." He was quiet a minute, and then added, "For what it's worth, I think you were a good boss." COYOTE: at 11:50 PM Ripley snorted, mostly to herself. "You're a sweet kid," she said, amused. He was wrong. Or he was flattering her. Or maybe the poor guy's old bosses were just really fucking awful to him and he didn't understand what a good boss was. "Thanks. You were a good Runner."(edited) MUSE: at 11:52 PM "Guess I was," Roddy said, feeling a little proud of himself now. Though- that did make him wonder. If he wasn't a Runner any more- what was he? COYOTE: at 11:52 PM END Category:Text Roleplay